Peanut butter and chocolate lovers rejoice! I’ve combined at least 3 delicious cookies into 1 mouthwatering recipe with my big fat peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. Consider yourself warned: these cookies are exploding with flavor, unapologetically thick, and hopelessly irresistible. They’re guaranteed to satisfy almost every cookie craving.
A cookie to end all cookies, these big fat peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are a mouthful. I was inspired to try these decadent treats after seeing the cover of my cookbook, Sally’s Cookie Addiction, for the first time. The glorious monster cookies gracing the book cover are loaded with M&Ms and can be found in Chapter 2 and have recently been added to my website.
This recipe, however, skips those rainbow candies and focuses instead on a flavor relationship like no other. Chocolate chips and peanut butter. It’s a match made in cookie heaven! In this recipe, we’re combining that perfect pairing with textured oats to achieve the thickest, richest, and most satisfying cookie.
Tell Me About These Big Fat Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Texture: Loaded with so many delicious add-ins, these cookies have chewy edges, soft centers, and are unbelievably thick. (I’m always shocked by how thick they turn out.) If you want to go even bigger and thicker, try these big fat dark chocolate cranberry oatmeal cookies next!
- Flavor: Ordinary chocolate chip cookies are buttery sweet on their own, but the peanut butter-chocolate pairing here brings a delicious decadence to these cookies. If this flavor pairing is a favorite, be sure to add these peanut butter chocolate cookies to your list, too.
- Ease: Simple to make, the dough comes together in just minutes using a few staple pantry add-ins like old-fashioned oats and peanut butter. Make them for same-day snacking or prepare them ahead of a special occasion (see Note).
- Time: This dough can be prepped and chilled in under an hour. 20 minutes in the refrigerator (the same amount of time we chill dough for brownie cookies) helps the oats soak up some moisture and prevents the cookie from overspreading.
If you love these cookies but don’t have oats, try these peanut butter chocolate chip cookies instead. If you love these cookies but need a gluten free dessert recipe, try these flourless peanut butter oatmeal cookies or flourless monster cookies instead. We’ve got all the bases covered!
One reader, Dyna, says: “Hands down the BEST cookie recipe I have ever made, and I’ve made a lot of cookies… All the extra notes and suggestions too were spot on. Following those tips made for a beautiful, delectable cookie!”
Recipe Testing: What Works & What Doesn’t
- The weight of peanut butter. This cookie dough is adapted from my oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. The addition of peanut butter here, however, can weigh down the dough. To counter this, I add baking powder for lift.
- A spreading solution. When testing the recipe, I found the cookies weren’t spreading enough. I decided to swap the quantities of granulated sugar and brown sugar. Granulated sugar—dry and thin—helps increase cookie spread. Brown sugar—moist and thick—keeps cookies compact. Increasing the granulated sugar makes all the difference in this dough for the perfect spread. You won’t even miss that extra brown sugar flavor because the peanut butter is our front-runner.
- Fewer oats + more chocolate. When testing, I originally had a higher quantity of oats in the cookies. I decided to reduce that amount to make room for more chocolate chips. Can you blame me?
Choosing the Right Ingredients:
Peanut butter. Though natural-style peanut butter is my #1 choice for eating and snacking, I recommend using non-natural peanut butter for this particular cookie recipe. Natural peanut butter can be used in my regular peanut butter cookies (though the cookies are a little crumblier than intended), but it’s not ideal for today’s recipe. Instead, use Jif or Skippy. You can use creamy or crunchy, but I prefer creamy peanut butter as crunchy can make the cookies taste a little dry. You need 1 cup of peanut butter for this recipe.
Room-temperature butter. Like my basic soft chocolate chip cookies, the base of today’s oatmeal cookie recipe is creamed room-temperature butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar. You can’t cream butter and sugar together if the butter is too warm or too cold. (It usually spells disaster for your cookies!) Room temperature butter is about 65°F (18°C). It’s cool and slightly firm to touch, not warm or slippery. I recommend placing your butter on the counter for 1 hour prior to beginning the recipe to achieve ideal “room temperature” butter. If you don’t have an hour, here is my trick to soften butter quickly. You need 1 cup of butter for this cookie dough.
Whole oats: To ensure the cookies spread nicely and do not dry out, be sure to use whole oats and not quick oats. Quick oats are cut finer, and will soak up more moisture in the dough.
Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
After you prepare the peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies dough, chill it for 20 minutes in the refrigerator. After chilling, it’s time to scoop the dough and bake the cookies. Each cookie uses 2 Tablespoons of dough which is about the same size as these regular chocolate chip cookies. Arrange the cookie dough balls 3 inches apart on your baking sheet. These cookies are large, so I use a medium cookie scoop and overflow it with dough (since the medium only holds 1.5 Tablespoons.)
More Quick Cookie Recipes
- Peanut Butter Cookie Sandwiches
- Mini M&M Cookies
- Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Giant Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Brownie Cookies
- Shortbread Cookies
Big Fat Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Prep Time: 40 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour, 10 minutes
- Yield: 32 cookies
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Big fat peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are easy, thick, and exploding with peanut butter, oats, and chocolate chips to satisfy your cookie cravings.
Ingredients
- 1 and 1/2 cups (188g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (16 Tbsp; 226g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (100g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 cup (240g) creamy peanut butter
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups (170g) old-fashioned whole rolled oats
- 2 and 1/2 cups (450g) semi-sweet chocolate chips, plus more for topping if desired
Instructions
- Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- In a large bowl using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium-high speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Add the granulated sugar and brown sugar and beat on medium-high speed until creamed, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs, peanut butter, and vanilla and beat on high speed until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl and beat again as needed to combine.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix on low until combined. With the mixer running on low speed, add the oats. Once combined, beat in the chocolate chips. Dough will be thick and sticky. Cover and chill the dough for at least 20 minutes in the refrigerator (and up to 4 days). If chilling for longer than 1 hour, allow to sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before rolling and baking because the dough will be quite hard.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
- Scoop balls of dough, 2 Tablespoons of dough per cookie, and arrange 3 inches apart on the baking sheets. Bake for 12-14 minutes until lightly browned on the sides. The centers will look very soft.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. While the cookies are still warm, I like to press a few more chocolate chips into the tops—this is only for looks!
- Cookies stay fresh covered at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: You can make the cookie dough and chill it in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Allow to come to room temperature then continue with step 4. Baked cookies freeze well for up to 3 months. Unbaked cookie dough balls freeze well for up to 3 months. Bake frozen cookie dough balls for an extra minute, no need to thaw. Read my tips and tricks on how to freeze cookie dough.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Glass Mixing Bowl | Whisk | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mat or Parchment Paper | Medium Cookie Scoop | Cooling Rack
- Peanut Butter: Use a non-natural peanut butter like Jif creamy or Skippy creamy. I do not suggest using natural style or oily peanut butter as both produce crumbly, fragile, and sandy tasting cookies. (Try this recipe for flourless peanut butter oatmeal cookies if you want to use natural!) Crunchy peanut butter is OK, but I find the cookies taste a little dry with it.
- Be sure to check out my top 5 cookie baking tips AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking tools.
Reader Comments and Reviews
These are my absolute favorite cookies, I’d like to make them bite size to give out as party favors. For how long do you think I should bake them for?
Hi Lucy, we haven’t tested these as mini bite-size cookies, so are unsure of the bake time. We bake these mini M&M cookies for 7-8 minutes, so I suggest you start checking the cookies around the 7-minute mark. Hope they turn out well!
These may be more pleasing to the chocolate chip cookie enthusiast than to the pure peanut butter cookie fanatic.
The instructions say “scoop balls of dough, 2 Tablespoons of dough per cookie” nothing about
“rolling dough” which is referenced in the instructions ahead of the preheat instructions.
“If chilling for longer than i hour, allow to sit at room temperature for least 30 minutes before
ROLLING and baking.” I can’t imagine rolling this dough . So what is the correct way to handle
dough? roll or scoop balls”?
Hi Carol, that instruction is to “roll” them into balls. A scoop is perfect. Enjoy!
THank you so much:))))) I guess when I read the instructions I just pictured rolling the
dough and not rolling into balls. HaHaHa,
This is the best cookie recipe! It’s wonderful how it’s written but I’ll substitute creamy peanut butter for crunchy and sometimes a cup of chocolate chips for a cup of dried cranberries, everyone says these are the best cookies they’ve ever had. Always a hit
These are delicious! Warning: don’t eat them as soon as they have cooled. I did (of course) and I didn’t detect much peanut butter flavor. However, when I checked on them the next morning, the peanut butter flavor was much more apparent. I took them to church and only brought a couple of them home. I used my smaller cookie scoop, so it would make more cookies. The small scoop makes about 6 dozen cookies, which required 12 minutes baking time in my oven. I will definitely make them again.
I’m anxious to try this recipe. They look delicious. Should I make any changes for high altitude? I haven’t seen that question asked. Thank you.
Hi Ellen, We don’t usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076 Let us know if you give them a try!
I loved this! I added an extra tsp of vanilla and added butterscotch chips. One bag chocolate chips and one bag of butterscotch chips. These have gotten rave reviews everywhere I’ve taken them! Everyone thinks I bought them. Lol.
Oh my gosh—these are my new favorite cookie! I’ve made them several times now: normal batch, half batch, big cookies, smaller cookies—they’re so delicious! Most recently I was short for time, so I decided to try them as bars (thanks to some directions in the comments!). I chilled the dough 15 minutes, put it into a parchment-lined 9×13, and baked for 35 minutes. I let it cool completely before lifting it out to cut it. They are DELICIOUS. I froze most of them, but sampled squares from the edges and the center—they turned out perfectly. I cut the bars in 36 pieces, as they’re very thick. Thank you for another winning recipe!
Bars! Great idea!
Can I omit the oats?
Hi Kat, for a cookie without oats, we’d recommend these bakery style peanut butter chocolate chip cookies instead, or you can make our peanut butter cookies and add chocolate chips per the recipe notes.
I want to try this recipe, but I was wondering if you use regular oats or quick cooking oats or if it matters? Thanks. I think these are going to be perfect for a packaged cookie for our ladies’night out at church every month.
Hi Lillian, quick oats are more powdery and dry out the cookies. We recommend sticking with whole oats for best results.
These cookies were delicious and looked magnificent baked. Love this recipe. It’s a keeper.
I really loved this recipe. I’m making these in hopes of adding to my weight gain regimen and would like to know how much calories are in these ?
Hi Asha, We don’t usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
These are my favorite cookies and I’ve been baking them a couple of times a month (or maybe more) since I discovered them. Everyone I know asks me to bake them, I’ve made them with almond butter and they are just as good but the texture is nice and chewy instead of melt in your mouth peanut butter. I like them with crunchy peanut butter, just add a rounded tablespoon more to add more moisture since the oil is in the chunks of peanuts. I also make them without the chocolate because my parrot, Panik is crazy about them and bugs me to death every time I make them. Turns out they are delicious with or without the chocolate chips!
Hot dang, these are good!
I made two batches: one with semi-sweet chocolate chips and some coconut, the other “as is” but substituted dark chocolate chips. I like the dark chips better (more complimentary to the peanut butter), but both batches were scarfed down at the neighborhood picnic .
Thanks for sharing!
These did not disappoint! Nice flavors and textures made for a yummy cookie treat!
This will be my go-to recipe for Oatmeal Cookies. I tried this recipe also by adding crunchy peanut butter, Enjoy Life Choc. Chips & pecans. I did a great job thanks to your recipe.
Next time I will head towards Kitchen Sink Cookies and add cranberries, etc.
Thank Y’all.
I use these for fueling for my ultra training/races. I actually get 60 cookies and they hold up well, are easy to eat, and sit well in the stomach. And, well, taste amazing
Hands Down best cookie ever!
I have made many of Sally’s recipes and I find them all to be very good. This one might be perfect for some, but I found them to be a tad too sweet (and I like both sweet and chocolate) and a little crumbly. They spread a little too much on me, and perhaps that was pilot error. I may have let the butter get too warm, or over beat it while creaming, so that’s on me. I would have liked a tad more oat flavor too. Overall, I’m sure many would love this recipe, but I will revert back to some of Sally’s other recipes. If you’re on the fence, give them a try and see for yourself.
I liked them. I did have to modify a bit. I have ti use half peanut butter and half almond butter. I also used half chocolate chips and half dried cranberries. I do see the need to chill . They taste good though!
Delish! Used natural peanut butter and increased brown sugar to 1cuo! Only had 1/2 bag of milk chocolate chips but worked great!
Wanted to know if I can use quick oats instead of rolled oats. That’s all I have on hand.
Hi Christina, Quick oats are more powdery and dry out the cookies. We recommend sticking with whole oats for best results.
My husband and I agree that these may just
be the best cookies that we have ever had !!
My whole family agrees Favorite cookies
Can these be made as bars? If so, what would I need to change?
Hi JoJo, you can definitely try these in a 9×13 inch pan to make cookie bars. We’re unsure of the exact bake time needed, but you can follow the baking time and temperature for our Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars as a guide. Enjoy!
I know some recipes cannot be cut in half, but I tried it and it worked well! I was wondering if I could use oat flour or a blend instead and if I would need to make any other changes.
I decided to make these into bar cookies just this morning. They turned out really well. I lined my 13×9 pan with parchment, with overhangs on the long edges for easy removal. I baked them at 350°F for 35 minutes. They’re thick and very rich, so I cut them in 36 pieces.
One of my favorite cookie recipes! Only question I have is what’s the longest everyone has left the dough in the fridge? I have too many desserts in the house, and I am wondering how long I can keep the dough before I bake the cookies. Thanks!
Hi Maya! So glad you loved them. We recommend chilling cookie dough up to three days in the fridge.
Maya I love doubling this and then freezing them in 2tbsp dough balls on parchment paper then once solid I put them in a freezer bag labeled with cooking instructions. My kids and husband love having this cookie fresh out of the oven even if I’m not in the mood to bake them.
Can these be done gf and vegan?
Hi Nicole, we haven’t tested it but let us know if you do!
I have made these several times and my friends and family just rave about them. I love mixing the chocolate chips with butterscotch chips and often add a little bit of coffee really enhances chocolate
Quick question….I make your recipe for 6 giant choc chips cookies 2 times a week, been doing that forever; however I want to try this one and wonder if I can also add walnuts or would I ruin the recipe. All my friends love walnuts in cookies.
Hi Kathryn, You try replacing some of the chocolate chips with walnuts, keeping the total amount of add-ins to 2.5 cups. Enjoy!
How did it go with the walnuts?
These are amazing! I think I ate two cookies worth of dough while rolling them into balls. I used natural peanut butter because that’s what I had and they taste great to me!
Cookies are delicious. Easy to make. Made them for a Memorial Day cookout and everyone agreed that they were great
These cookies look delicious! I noticed that you stated that you reduced the oats and upped the chocolate chips. If I wanted more oats and less chips, do I just sub out equal oats for chocolate chips? My family likes less chocolate chips in their cookies.
Hi Julie! You can simply reduce the amount of chocolate chips to your desired amount without any other changes. Enjoy!
These are the best PB Oatmeal cookies ever! I reduced brown sugar to 1/3C and added 2T molasses. Used half semisweet and half Reese’s chips. Soooo goooood!
These cookies sound and look delicious.
However my daughter has a nut allergy
Would it work if I used a nut free chocolate spread instead of the peanut butter and if so what quantities?
Thanks
Hi Dee, we haven’t tried these with a chocolate spread, but please let us know how they turn out if you do!
What about almond butter?
Hi Rachel, several readers have commented that they’ve used almond butter and they’ve turned out great!
The cookies are good but I think the chips could be cut by 1 cup. There are so many chips they overwhelm the oatmeal and peanut butter.
I came across this recipe today and I just had to try them. They are soo good. I added chopped pecans to mine but that was the only change. Thank you for the recipe.
I only have margarine, will that work instead of butter?
Thank you
Hi Vickie! Margarine wouldn’t be a simple swap. For best taste and texture, we recommend sticking with butter for these cookies.
I only had margarine and they turned out amazing! It was the bricks of parkay, can’t wait to try with butter!